Soaring prices lead to onion thefts in India

NEW DELHI – Mintu Chottelal, 30, a mini-truck driver, and his helper, Rinku Gujjar, 19, were driving along the Delhi-Jaipur Highway when a minivan suddenly stopped in front of them. Three men jumped out, overpowered them and drove away with their cargo.

They did not get far. About an hour later, the police chased down and recovered the truck, its nearly 20,000 pounds of onions still aboard. The three robbers escaped.

"I have never heard of anything like this before," Bhawani Singh, a police officer at the Shahpura police station, about 75 kilometres from Jaipur, said in a phone interview, "but onion prices are so high. It makes sense."

At prevailing prices, the stash would be worth $7,779 to $10,880.

According to official figures released last month, the price of onions rose more than 100 per cent from June 2012. Last week, it hit 80 rupees per kilogram, or $1.25 for a little more than two pounds, in some parts of the country, spawning speculation that it would cross the 100-rupee mark.

But that grew less likely this week when the central and Delhi state governments announced several measures to rein in onion prices. After all, there is no shortage of supply, Delhi's chief minister said in a news conference Monday. India is the second largest onion grower in the world, after China.

Anaro Devi, 70, a vegetable seller in central Delhi, said she had never seen such a steep rise in the price of vegetables, not just onions. She said she already sold a kilogram of green chilies for 100 rupees, or $1.56. Devi blamed wholesalers for the skyrocketing prices, accusing them of hoarding.

"The rich don't know anything," she said. "It is the poor who are left to suffer."

Soaring onion prices are even figuring into politics here, especially the contest between the governing Congress Party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been aggressively campaigning ahead of state assembly elections in November.

The government, trumpeting its sensitivity, announced last week that it would procure onions directly from major wholesale markets in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, two major onion-producing states, and that the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation would import onions.

"Outlets arranged by the city government have been selling onions around 45 rupees per kilogram," Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dixit, said at a news conference.

Not to be outdone, the Bharatiya Janata Party opened stalls to sell onions at prices significantly lower than the market price. The party also found unusual ways to protest onion prices. A state lawmaker deposited onions at a local bank, according to media reports, and at a Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters, the party gave onions to women who tied a sacred thread symbolizing the bond to a party leader here.

Dixit accused the opposition of "politicizing the issue" with "gimmicks."

But expensive onions were among the reasons the Bharatiya Janata Party was voted out of power in Delhi state in 1998.

"The Congress Party, then the opposition, used the issue well to defeat us in the assembly elections," Anil Jain, a party secretary, said.

For some people, the rise in onion prices is more of a public safety issue than a political problem.

A trader in Jaipur was attacked recently, purportedly for selling onions at a price below the market rate as part of the Delhi government's plan.

Kajal Gurung, 44, a homemaker in East Delhi, was not surprised.

"An incident like this was just waiting to happen," she said. "A bag of onions in my hand has a greater chance of being stolen than a ring or a bracelet."

New York Times

Soaring prices lead to onion thefts in India

NEW DELHI – Mintu Chottelal, 30, a mini-truck driver, and his helper, Rinku Gujjar, 19, were driving along the Delhi-Jaipur Highway when a minivan suddenly stopped in front of them. Three men jumped out, overpowered them and drove away with their cargo.

They did not get far. About an hour later, the police chased down and recovered the truck, its nearly 20,000 pounds of onions still aboard. The three robbers escaped.

"I have never heard of anything like this before," Bhawani Singh, a police officer at the Shahpura police station, about 75 kilometres from Jaipur, said in a phone interview, "but onion prices are so high. It makes sense."

At prevailing prices, the stash would be worth $7,779 to $10,880.

According to official figures released last month, the price of onions rose more than 100 per cent from June 2012. Last week, it hit 80 rupees per kilogram, or $1.25 for a little more than two pounds, in some parts of the country, spawning speculation that it would cross the 100-rupee mark.

But that grew less likely this week when the central and Delhi state governments announced several measures to rein in onion prices. After all, there is no shortage of supply, Delhi's chief minister said in a news conference Monday. India is the second largest onion grower in the world, after China.

Anaro Devi, 70, a vegetable seller in central Delhi, said she had never seen such a steep rise in the price of vegetables, not just onions. She said she already sold a kilogram of green chilies for 100 rupees, or $1.56. Devi blamed wholesalers for the skyrocketing prices, accusing them of hoarding.

"The rich don't know anything," she said. "It is the poor who are left to suffer."

Soaring onion prices are even figuring into politics here, especially the contest between the governing Congress Party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been aggressively campaigning ahead of state assembly elections in November.

The government, trumpeting its sensitivity, announced last week that it would procure onions directly from major wholesale markets in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, two major onion-producing states, and that the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation would import onions.

"Outlets arranged by the city government have been selling onions around 45 rupees per kilogram," Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dixit, said at a news conference.

Not to be outdone, the Bharatiya Janata Party opened stalls to sell onions at prices significantly lower than the market price. The party also found unusual ways to protest onion prices. A state lawmaker deposited onions at a local bank, according to media reports, and at a Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters, the party gave onions to women who tied a sacred thread symbolizing the bond to a party leader here.

Dixit accused the opposition of "politicizing the issue" with "gimmicks."

But expensive onions were among the reasons the Bharatiya Janata Party was voted out of power in Delhi state in 1998.

"The Congress Party, then the opposition, used the issue well to defeat us in the assembly elections," Anil Jain, a party secretary, said.

For some people, the rise in onion prices is more of a public safety issue than a political problem.

A trader in Jaipur was attacked recently, purportedly for selling onions at a price below the market rate as part of the Delhi government's plan.

Kajal Gurung, 44, a homemaker in East Delhi, was not surprised.

"An incident like this was just waiting to happen," she said. "A bag of onions in my hand has a greater chance of being stolen than a ring or a bracelet."

New York Times

Top Stories

Soaring prices lead to onion thefts in India

NEW DELHI – Mintu Chottelal, 30, a mini-truck driver, and his helper, Rinku Gujjar, 19, were driving along the Delhi-Jaipur Highway when a minivan suddenly stopped in front of them. Three men jumped out, overpowered them and drove away with their cargo.

They did not get far. About an hour later, the police chased down and recovered the truck, its nearly 20,000 pounds of onions still aboard. The three robbers escaped.

"I have never heard of anything like this before," Bhawani Singh, a police officer at the Shahpura police station, about 75 kilometres from Jaipur, said in a phone interview, "but onion prices are so high. It makes sense."

At prevailing prices, the stash would be worth $7,779 to $10,880.

According to official figures released last month, the price of onions rose more than 100 per cent from June 2012. Last week, it hit 80 rupees per kilogram, or $1.25 for a little more than two pounds, in some parts of the country, spawning speculation that it would cross the 100-rupee mark.

But that grew less likely this week when the central and Delhi state governments announced several measures to rein in onion prices. After all, there is no shortage of supply, Delhi's chief minister said in a news conference Monday. India is the second largest onion grower in the world, after China.

Anaro Devi, 70, a vegetable seller in central Delhi, said she had never seen such a steep rise in the price of vegetables, not just onions. She said she already sold a kilogram of green chilies for 100 rupees, or $1.56. Devi blamed wholesalers for the skyrocketing prices, accusing them of hoarding.

"The rich don't know anything," she said. "It is the poor who are left to suffer."

Soaring onion prices are even figuring into politics here, especially the contest between the governing Congress Party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been aggressively campaigning ahead of state assembly elections in November.

The government, trumpeting its sensitivity, announced last week that it would procure onions directly from major wholesale markets in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, two major onion-producing states, and that the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation would import onions.

"Outlets arranged by the city government have been selling onions around 45 rupees per kilogram," Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dixit, said at a news conference.

Not to be outdone, the Bharatiya Janata Party opened stalls to sell onions at prices significantly lower than the market price. The party also found unusual ways to protest onion prices. A state lawmaker deposited onions at a local bank, according to media reports, and at a Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters, the party gave onions to women who tied a sacred thread symbolizing the bond to a party leader here.

Dixit accused the opposition of "politicizing the issue" with "gimmicks."

But expensive onions were among the reasons the Bharatiya Janata Party was voted out of power in Delhi state in 1998.

"The Congress Party, then the opposition, used the issue well to defeat us in the assembly elections," Anil Jain, a party secretary, said.

For some people, the rise in onion prices is more of a public safety issue than a political problem.

A trader in Jaipur was attacked recently, purportedly for selling onions at a price below the market rate as part of the Delhi government's plan.

Kajal Gurung, 44, a homemaker in East Delhi, was not surprised.

"An incident like this was just waiting to happen," she said. "A bag of onions in my hand has a greater chance of being stolen than a ring or a bracelet."